Lady Eisselle
by the-mysterious-scribe
Summary: Lady Eiselle is found staggering through the woods, she brings some shocking news that will change everything for the young warlock and prince.    I'm really bad at summaries but please read! Contains Arthur/Gwen pairings. NO SLASH!
1. Chapter 1

Darkening Forest was widely renowned for being dangerous. The dense, foggy woodland was home to all sorts of threats; bandits, sorcerers and mysterious creatures just being the first to spring to mind.

It was an odd place, there was no mistaking. The cold, damp air was thick with fear and apprehension. Even the twisted, ancient trees seemed to threaten anyone foolish enough to enter the wild landscape.

No one dared to walk the lands, rumours of terrible deaths had spread far and wide, from the choppy waves of a faraway ocean to the perilous heights of a distant mountain, everyone knew of the dangers that lurked within _Darkening Forest_.

But despite all of the warnings a young girl was now staggering through the gnarled trees, lost in a maze of roots and fog. Somewhere not that far away a wolf howled, the small girl trembled in fear, her eyes flashed a rich gold and a heavy tree crashed to the moss covered ground with a tremendous _crack!_.

"_She's over here!" _a muffled voice shouted, spoiling the silence.

"_Get her then! We can't let her get away!" _A rough voice replied.

The girl started to run again, she sped through the forest like a deer being chased by a ferocious hunter. She leapt over stones, ducked under branches and ran. Ran for her life.

An arrow whizzed past her, just inches above her head, she tried to avoid it but instead she tripped over a root, twisted her ankle and fell on to her back.

The men who had been following her appeared slowly through the veil of mist.

One had a severely scarred face, a long matted beard and greasy shoulder length hair.

The other was a head taller, he had more prominent features (his nose for example hung over his upper lip like a bat clinging on to a tree), slanted and beady black eyes and had a faded red hat perched on top of his head.

The taller one was obviously in charge, he walked a head in front of the bearded man, holding a rather battered sword before him. He pointed the weapon at the young girls chest.

"_You shouldn't have tried to escape, foolish wench._" he threatened.

With one swift movement he plunged the sword into the woman's rib-cage and laughed as the light in her eyes faded.


	2. Chapter 2

The tall man continued to laugh as he turned his back on the dying girl, His high pitched, echoing cackles sounding eerie against the otherwise silent landscape.

"_You shouldn't have killed her_." his accomplice mumbled but he didn't look as though he truly regretted the action. On the contrary, he grinned, revealing a set of blackened teeth.

The men walked away, leaving the girl against the tree roots she had tripped over.

Her eye-lids flickered as she drifted out of consciousness for the last time. It looked as though all hope was lost until suddenly her eyes flashed gold.

Immediately the wound in the girl's torso healed itself. She jumped up from the leaf covered ground and shouted out to the men who had all but disappeared through the mist.

"_You'll have to try harder than that to kill me!" _her voice was strong but dignified, learned yet courageous.

The two figures sprung around, a look of pure terror on both of their ugly faces.

"But… You… you were dead!" The greasy haired man stated stupidly whilst the taller of the two just gawped.

"Not quite!" The girl sang, with newfound energy she leapt over to the men and chuckled lightly as they flinched away.

Holding her hand in front of her she muttered ancient words that flowed naturally from deep inside her: "_bælegsa genéopan wudubeám_!"

From nowhere a spark settled on a nearby tree. One small spark.

The two men glanced at each other then they started to howl in laughter, clutching their stomachs they collapsed against each other, struggling to control themselves.

"Ha-ha!" The taller man laughed. "Is that all you can do?"

The girl walked towards the two men, her face contorted in a silent rage. Her hand was still held before her and she smiled sweetly as she spoke

"_Oh, no. This is nothing_!" As soon as the words left her lips the men gasped as her eyes turned momentarily yellow.

The tree where the single spark had settled caught fire with a sudden "BANG!"

Without a seconds warning the fire spread from tree to tree, swept by an invisible wind.

For this was not normal fire. There was no smoke, the only way to stop such a fire would be by using magic but the girl was weak, as much as she tried she could not summon the energy needed to weave magic into her otherwise meaningless words.

When her last attempt to stop the flames failed she turned and fled into the forest, away from the inferno and away from the burnt bodies of two men, not the first and most certainly not the last to perish at the hands of Darkening Forest.

A few miles East from Darkening Forest lies a famous market town, Camelot, that resides in the shadows of a great castle.

This castle is home to King Uther, a fierce king with a wild reputation for despising all things magical.

It was in King Uther's court that a peasant from a village near to Darkening Forest now stood.

The poor farmer had long brown hair that was unkempt and half hidden under a shabby hat. His skin had a pleasant olive tone, probably from working all day in the fields.

Silently the peasant removed his hat and bowed before king Uther.

"_My Lord_," he began, "_A terrible fire is spreading through Darkening Forest_."

King Uther scowled, unsure what to make of this news.

"_And? Have you tried to extinguish the fire?"_

"_Yes My lord but the fire will not stop burning. Nothing we can do will stop the flames. Me and my fellow villagers fear that by this time tomorrow our farmland and homes will be destroyed._"

"_What are you saying? Do you suspect sorcery?_" King Uther's sharp voice made the man (and half the court) flinch.

"_As far as I know My Lord, I can think of no other explanation._"

Uther stood up and addressed Arthur who was by his side.

"_You and some knights will ride out at once and put a stop to this evil._"

"_Very well father._" the Prince replied, knowing that there was no point trying to persuade his father otherwise.

Arthur bowed to his father, grabbed Merlin's arm and marched out of the hall.

Once they were out of the room he turned to Merlin.

"_Prepare the horses will you?_"

He ordered and before Merlin could answer he had gone.

Something -instinct perhaps- told Merlin that they were about to go on another adventure.

But the servant had no time to dwell on such thoughts instead he set off in the direction of the stables.

_**Thank-you for reviewing lilyplusjamesistotallove, you just about made my day :D**_

_**This chapter is dedicated to you and anyone else who took the time to review. I was really touched xxx**_

_**Disclaimer: It breaks my heart to admit defeat but Merlin™ does not belong to me. Oh how I wish it did… xxx**_


	3. Chapter 3

_**Disclaimer: Merlin™ doesn't belong to me. If it did I would change the scripts so we saw more topless Bradley/ Colin.**_

_**Pairings: Gwen/ Arthur**_

_**Spoilers: probably a lot- sorry.**_

_**Dear readers,**_

_**Thanks so much for getting this far, it's really nice to know that someone out there is reading my stories.**_

_**Just a little note to say sorry if I don't update for a bit, I've got big GCSE exams coming up and I need to revise and stuff, sorry, it's not something I want to do…**_

_**More reviews? I'll update more often, promise x**_

_**Thanks again,**_

_**The-mysterious-scribe**_

_**-xxx-**_

The journey to Darkening Forest didn't take long but it was long enough for Merlin to regret not putting extra padding on his saddle. As he and Arthur got off their horses Merlin patted his bruised bottom.

The flaming wood came into sight and Arthur cursed under his breath; "I thought the peasant was exaggerating. We'll never put this fire out with only six men!"

He gestured behind him to where Leon, Percival, Gawain, Lancelot and Elyan stood.

Beside him Merlin coughed loudly. "Hem-hem, what about me?"

"Sorry Merlin," Arthur replied jokingly, "I was only talking about knights. Besides, you don't really count as a 'man.'"

The knights laughed at Arthur's joke whilst Merlin frowned and stared down at the ground.

"-Just kidding Merlin!" Arthur said, punching his servant gently on his arm. "Now, where do you think we should start to tackle the fire?"

Lancelot demounted his horse and walked towards Arthur and Merlin, the other knights followed his action and soon all were stood in a circle, much like they had been a few months ago.

"If I may My Lord." Lancelot looked around at Arthur who nodded. "I think that the best idea would be to attack it from the west, that way we'll have the river at our aid and an unlimited supply of water."

"That is a wise idea Lancelot." Arthur said graciously, making the knight he was addressing smile self-consciously at the compliment.

"It was nothing my Lord." He replied.

But Arthur wasn't listening, he was too busy looking at the flaming forest. "We shall ride out to the west at once." He decided and climbed back on to his steed.

Merlin followed the action, a little grumpily, cringing as his behind came into contact with the saddle. One thought plagued his mind, it was what the peasant had said to Uther;

"_Nothing we can do will stop the flames_."

So that meant that someone (or something) magical had started the fires and as the only one with magic in his gang of friends he would surely have to stop it.

_**Sorry for the wait but as I said I've got a lot of revising to do. **_

_**Hopefully the next chapter will be up quicker than this one was. Sorry x**_


	4. Dear readers

_**Dear readers,**_

_**Can I start off by apologising profusely; I really want to continue this story because I have some BIG ideas that I think need to be written down (or they'll just explode out of me at random moments in discussions that aren't even about Merlin).**_

_**However, because of some utterly stupid people I have to take a few **__**big**__** GCSE tests that start in the first few weeks of March.**_

_**They're on Science and Maths -My two weakest subjects- and I desperately need to revise because if I don't I wont pass my GCSEs, I wont get a job or money and I'll die alone (Or at least that's what I've been told to encourage me to study).**_

_**Anyway, enough with the rambling!**_

_**What I'm trying to say is that unless I get some time during the weekend or half-term (in a couple of weeks) to sit down and write solidly about Merlin for a few hours then I'm afraid you're going to have to wait until about mid-March for any updates… It breaks my heart to have to type this, truly it does. I can barely get my fingers to hit the right keys because every part of me is in denial.**_

_**I'm so sorry. I'm trying to look at the bright side; March is nearer than the next series of Merlin, but I just can't. There is no bright side, I just want to write my Merlin stories.**_

_**Do not fear! I have not forgotten this story and I give you my word (as Arthur would say) that I will continue it as soon as I'm allowed on other (non-science/maths related) websites. **_

_**If in the meantime you have **__**The-Mysterious-Scribe**__** withdrawal symptoms (If only such a thing was possible to get from my awful writing!) then please look at my other story 'Don't Mess with Magic' I'd like to think that it has a fresh new story but I'm probably wrong! I'm going to keep updating this one until it finishes because I have the story nearly finished.**_

_**I know that a month is quite a long time to wait for a chapter and some of you may loose interest in my GCSE shenanigans and give up on me, but I hope that these stories will be worth waiting for when they eventually surface.**_

_**Little teasers**__**:**_

_**Lady Eisselle**__**: I'm not going to give too much away here but I'm going for the opposite to 'Don't Mess With Magic.' which I think should be interesting, I've only seen two like it on .**_

_**As I said, I wont give too much away but it should be very dramatic (hopefully) in some places…**_

_**Running out of parchment**__**: If I can summon the words this story will no longer be a one off! I haven't really decided on where to go with this one yet but I can hear execution bells (-do I mean drums? I think I do-) in the distance (maybe)… Ooooh…**_

_**I think that's everything, once again I must apologise to you. You have taken the liberty to read this and it is filled with nothing but disappointing news, I am so sorry readers. I really, really am.**_

_**As I said somewhere above (I think, somewhere…) that I might get the chance to add a sneaky chapter every once in a while but there are no guarantees.**_

_**For up to date news on any of my stories please view my profile which I will update if anything changes considerably.**_

_**Until March might I suggest reading one of my favourited fics? I think they're all about Merlin and every single one is excellent in its own way.**_

_**Please stay loyal if you like my writing (I dare to hope that somebody out there might) and you will be rewarded in due time. I promise. **_

_**Love from,**_

_**The-Mysterious-Scribe **_

_**-xxx-**_

_**P.S. One more time: I'm SO sorry!**_


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